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JOHN E. USALIS / STAFF WRITER The current headquarters and garage of the Shenandoah Community Ambulance Association is 220 N. White St., Shenandoah. The garage holds four ambulances. The new building will provide office and living space for the full-time emergency medical personnel, and a garage addition will allow space for three more vehicles.

SHENANDOAH — A need for additional space for emergency medical operations led the Shenandoah Community Ambulance Association to purchase a nearby building as its headquarters.

The association plans to use the former Pottsville Internists Associates Inc. building at 229 N. Main St. for operations and add three garage bays to the building. The current headquarters at 220 N. White St., a short distance away, will to be used to house four ambulances.

The Shenandoah association merged last year with the ambulance associations in the West Mahanoy Township village of Lost Creek and in the Borough of Ringtown to become a regional association based in Shenandoah. The Ringtown and Lost Creek associations have dissolved with the merger.

The almost half-acre property, which extends from Main to White streets, was purchased by the association in 2017 for $87,500. The Pennsylvania Anthracite Miners Memorial is across the street.

Association President Richard R. “Rick” Examitas is looking forward to getting into the building once interior renovation and outside facade work is completed.

“In addition to what we paid for it, we have the garage addition and re-siding of the building because it was somewhat rotted. We put a new roof on it. So with repairs, we’re probably going to put in another $80,000 to $100,000 into it for the interior and addition,” he said.

Examitas added the association maintains the Lost Creek and Ringtown buildings since they are needed to store the ambulances.

“We’re finalizing the facade and they (DSI) are helping us with the grant. They’re working with us. The lower part will still be brick or stone, with the top part being stucco. Once it’s done, it’s going to be a nice landmark. We’ll put signage on it and it will be a nice corner property for that part of town. It’s a positive thing for Shenandoah,” Rick Examitas said.

The plan is for the building to be ready by late spring or early summer, Examitas said, adding the parking lot will still be available for members of the Shenandoah Area Senior Citizens, which has its center at 225 N. Market St., next to the new building and the current garage.

This year marks the 20th anniversary the organization is providing advanced life support to the northern half of the county in addition to basic life support.

“We bought the building from PIA because we outgrew our existing station due to the fact that we merged additional services, but we also outgrew the size of our current building for people staying overnight when we have more than one truck on,” Examitas said. “The current building is not made for having multiple employees staying over. It’s a garage. However, we saw the opportunity here that it’s close to our existing station and it’s a nice piece of property, and the inside of the building will suit our needs to expand that we’ll be able to do classroom training, we can have meetings inside, and places to stay and sleep. We’ll have more room to move around and for our supplies, etc.”

He said the ability to have training classes is an important part of the new building.

“The other thing is the classroom for continuing education classes. It’s not saying we can’t have them in the garage, but you have to move a truck and it’s not the best conditions for that,” Examitas said. “It served a purpose for what it was; we outgrew it.”

According to the association’s website, the current ambulance garage was constructed in 1988 after land was purchased. Before that, community ambulances were housed behind the Phoenix Fire Company No. 2 building, with access to North Ferguson Street. With the change from station wagon-style ambulances to truck-style units, using the entrance along the busy alley became difficult due to trucks using the street to deliver goods to Main Street businesses. The decision was to move to White Street and form an ambulance service organization separate from the Phoenix Fire Company.

“We’re still a 501(c)3 nonprofit volunteer-based system in Shenandoah, however it is now supplemented with career staff and it’s not as volunteer-based as it used to be,” Examitas said. “A lot of the services are career staff, and one of the big things is the requirements for training for volunteers to keep certifications up to date and it’s hard for people who have jobs and family life. It’s the same with the fire service. It’s hard to keep volunteers.”

Examitas said paid staff includes 15 career professionals, including seven full-time employees and various part-time and per diem staff.

“We’re a community ambulance and we’re there for the people, and the people support us. We’re here to serve our town and neighboring towns.”

The ambulance association can be reached at the station telephone at 570-462-0500. For emergencies, call 911. For the 24-hour answering service and transport scheduling, call 570-462-8214.

Contact the writer: jusalis@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6023

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